Trentonian: Free speech overvalued?

The Obama administration mischaracterized the terrorist attack in Beghanzi which killed four Americans as a spontaneous protest against a U.S. anti-Muslim video. More disturbing yet was how quickly the administration was to throw America’s freedom of speech under the bus. Cravenly apologetic officials rushed to condemn the film in vain hopes of appeasing extremists. The officials, from the president on down, should have stiffened their backbones and declared: “Freedom of speech is the foundation stone of our prized liberty, and we make no apologies for the right of our people to speak out however they please.”

Instead, the producer of the video was collared on obviously trumped-up probation-violation charges, and Obama administration bullies suggested to YouTube that the video might be deemed “hate speech” and prosecuted accordingly by federal authorities. Lesson learned by extremists: The U.S. government can be cowed. Violence works. Muslim extremists promptly hiked the bounty on novelist Salman Rushdie’s head from $500,000 to $3.3 million for offending Islam.

More disgusting yet were the American academics who became First Amendment turncoats. U. of Chicago law Prof. Eric Posner said the video shows that America “overvalues free speech.” U. of Pennsylvania religion professor Anthea Butler joined the high-minded lynch mob urging that the video producer be subjected to the rack of law-enforcement. If the First Amendment didn’t allow cockamamie comments, many of us ink-stained wretches certainly would be in dungeons. And — worst punishment yet — many high-minded academics and Obama administration officials would be there with us.